Apparatus and managing method using a preset policy based on an invalidated I/O path by using configuration information acquired from storage system

ABSTRACT

To appropriately manage configuration information acquired from a storage system for the purpose of performance management, etc., an information processing apparatus managing the configuration information, i.e., information indicative of a configuration of resources making up the storage system in a database, detects a change in setting of an I/O path to extract resources making up an invalidated I/O path, which is the I/O path subject to the change, as monitoring object resources, acquires performance information that is information indicative of operation statuses of the monitoring object resources from the storage system, judges whether the performance information of the monitoring object resource matches a preset policy, determines a timing to make invalidated configuration information, which is the configuration information related to the invalidated I/O path, deletable from the storage device based on the result of the judgement, and deletes the invalidated configuration information from the database when the determined timing comes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent ApplicationNo. 2009-052449 filed on Mar. 5, 2009, the content of which hereinincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus anda managing method of configuration information acquired from a storagesystem and, more particularly, to a technology for effectively utilizinga storage resource to appropriately manage information acquired from astorage system.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, when managing the performance of a system including a widevariety and types of resources such as a storage system, agents areprepared that correspond to the resources such as management objectapparatuses and software operated in the management object apparatuses;a managing apparatus (manager) acquires information related toconfigurations and performances of the resources (managementinformation) from these agents; and the managing apparatus monitors astate of the storage system as needed based on the acquired managementinformation to perform appropriate performance management.

The management of the management information becomes problematic in themanaging apparatus. Especially when a scale of the storage systemincreases, the management information also becomes enormous and wastesstorage resources. Unwanted management information makes it difficult tomore appropriately comprehend a situation and may result in troubles inmanagement operations.

Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-OpenPublication No. 2006-107126 describes that an importance of performanceinformation collected from a storage system is determined in accordancewith the possibility of the performance information to be used forresearch of deterioration in the performance, thereby the preservationperiod of the performance information is adjusted.

Although the preservation period of the performance information isadjusted in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No.2006-107126, when the managing apparatus provides information related tomonitoring of performance to users, configuration information of astorage system is also necessary in addition to the performanceinformation. Therefore, to achieve effective utilization of storageresources, a preservation period must also appropriately be set for theconfiguration information. Since purposes of utilization of theconfiguration information and the performance information widely varydepending on aspects of the monitoring, etc., the preservation periodsare preferably set in accordance with needs of users as long aspossible.

SUMMARY

The present invention was conceived in view of the above problems and itis therefore the object of the present invention to provide aninformation processing apparatus capable of appropriately managingconfiguration information acquired from a storage system for the purposeof performance management, etc., and a managing method of theconfiguration information acquired from a storage system.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a major aspect of thepresent invention, there is provided an information processing apparatusfor managing configuration information indicative of a configuration ofresources making up a storage system with which I/O paths are set in astorage device, comprising a monitoring object detecting unit thatdetects a change in the setting of an I/O path to extract resourcesmaking up an invalidated I/O path, which is the I/O path subjected tothe change, as monitoring object resources, a performance informationacquiring unit that acquires performance information indicative ofperformances of the monitoring object resources from the storage system,a performance information monitoring unit that judges whether theperformance information of the monitoring object resource matches apreset policy, and a deletion period setting unit that determines atiming to make invalidated configuration information, which is aconfiguration information related to the invalidated I/O path, deletablefrom the storage device based on the result of the judgement, andmanages the determined timing in a manner correlated with theconfiguration information.

According to the present invention, the preservation period mayappropriately be set for the configuration information. The deletionperiod of the invalidated configuration information is determined basedon whether the performance information of the monitoring object resourcemaking up the invalidated I/O path matches the policy. Therefore, theconfiguration information may appropriately be managed in accordancewith the user's needs (policy).

One of other aspects of the present invention provides the informationprocessing apparatus, in which the monitoring object detecting unitextracts resources making up another I/O path sharing the resourcemaking up the invalidated I/O path with the invalidated I/O path as themonitoring object resource in addition to the resources making up theinvalidated I/O path.

As above, in addition to the resources making up the invalidated I/Opath, the monitoring object detecting unit extracts also resourcesmaking up another I/O path sharing the resource making up the I/O pathas the monitoring object resources. Therefore, the configurationinformation related to the invalidated I/O path may appropriately beextracted and the configuration information may appropriately bemanaged.

The invalidated configuration information is at least one of I/O pathdefinition information indicative of the configuration of the I/O pathand resource configuration information that defines relationships amonga plurality of the resources making up the I/O path.

The storage system may include, for example, a storage apparatus, aserver apparatus accessing the storage apparatus, and a switchcommunicably coupling the storage apparatus and the server apparatus.The I/O path may be set by correlating at least two or more of anapplication of the server apparatus, a file system of the serverapparatus, a volume provided to the file system by the server apparatus,a server port that is a communication port of the server apparatus, aswitch port that is a communication port of the switch, a storage portthat is a communication port of the storage apparatus, a logical volumeprovided by the storage apparatus, and a RAID group making up thelogical volume.

The policy is at least one of a first policy representative of whether aperformance failure is occurring in the monitoring object resources, asecond policy representative of whether a possibility of occurrence of aperformance failure exists in the monitoring object resources, and athird policy representative of whether the performance of the monitoringobject resources is stable, for example.

The information processing apparatus further comprises a configurationinformation deleting unit that deletes the configuration informationfrom the database when the timing (date and time) determined by thedeletion period setting unit comes.

The information processing apparatus further comprises a configurationinformation displaying unit that provides a user interface fordisplaying the configuration information stored in the storage deviceand a display object setting unit that provides a user interface forsetting the configuration information to be displayed by theconfiguration information displaying unit.

The display object setting unit provides a first user interface forspecifying identifiers of resources making up the invalidated I/O path,and a second user interface for specifying the invalidated I/O pathwhich is set (defined) with the use of resources identified by theidentifiers of the resources accepted by the first user interface, andthe configuration information displaying unit displays the configurationinformation of the specified invalidated I/O path.

The information processing apparatus further comprises a policy settingunit that provides a user interface for setting the policy.

The above and other problems and solutions thereto disclosed herein willbecome apparent from the following description of the preferredembodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

According to the present invention, configuration information acquiredfrom a storage system for the purpose of performance management, etc.,may appropriately be managed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram of a configuration of an information processingsystem 1 described as Example 1;

FIG. 1B is a diagram of an example of a hardware configuration of acomputer 100 (information processing apparatus) capable to be used as aserver apparatus 2, a client 6, an information collection server 11, aperformance management server 12, and a management client 13;

FIG. 1C is a diagram of an example of hardware of a storage apparatus 3;

FIG. 1D is a diagram of an example of a hardware configuration of aswitch 4;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of main functions and data in the informationprocessing system 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a configuration of resources of a storage system5;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example of resource configuration information400;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of I/O path definition information500;

FIG. 6A depicts an example of performance information 600;

FIG. 6B depicts an example of the performance information 600;

FIG. 6C depicts an example of the performance information 600;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a case of changing an I/O path;

FIG. 8A depicts an example of the I/O path definition information 500before the I/O path is changed;

FIG. 8B depicts an example of the I/O path definition information 500after the I/O path is changed;

FIG. 9 depicts an example of registered contents of a monitoring objectresource database 214;

FIG. 10 depicts an example of the I/O path definition information 500with which deletion date and time are set;

FIG. 11 depicts an example of a policy setting screen 1100;

FIG. 12A is an explanatory diagram of an example of a policy;

FIG. 12B is an explanatory diagram of an example of a policy;

FIG. 12C is an explanatory diagram of an example of a policy;

FIG. 13 depicts an example of a preservation period setting screen 1300;

FIG. 14 depicts an example of a display object setting screen 1400;

FIG. 15A depicts an example of an information viewing screen 1500;

FIG. 15B depicts an example of the information viewing screen 1500;

FIG. 16A depicts another example of the display object setting screen1400;

FIG. 16B depicts an example of an I/O path list screen 1650;

FIG. 17 is an explanatory flowchart of a monitoring object detectingprocess S1700;

FIG. 18 is an explanatory flowchart of a deletion period setting processS1800; and

FIG. 19 is an explanatory flowchart of a configuration informationdeleting process S1900.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1A depicts a configuration of an information processing system 1described below as an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the informationprocessing system 1 includes one or more server apparatuses 2, one ormore storage apparatuses 3, one or more switches 4, one or more clients6, an information collection server 11, a performance management server12, and a management client 13.

The server apparatuses 2 are communicably coupled to the storageapparatuses 3 through the switches 4. The server apparatuses 2, theswitches 4, and the storage apparatuses 3 make up a storage system 5accessed by the clients 6. The clients 6 are communicably coupled to theserver apparatuses 2 through a communication network 7. Thecommunication network 7 is a LAN (local area network), a WAN (wide areanetwork), the internet, a public communication network, a private line,etc.

The server apparatuses 2 have one or more communication ports(hereinafter, server ports 231). The storage apparatuses 3 have one ormore communication ports (hereinafter, storage ports 331). The switches4 have one or more communication ports (hereinafter, switch ports 431)having the server ports 231 or the storage ports 331 as counterparts.

The switches 4 make up a storage network coupling the server apparatuses2 and the storage apparatuses 3. If the storage network is configured asLAN or WAN, the switches 4 are LAN switches (such as switching hubsconforming to 10 BASE-T, 100 BASE-T, or 1000 BASE-T (TX)). If thestorage network is configured as SAN (storage area network), theswitches 4 are fiber channel switches.

In the server apparatus 2, an operating system and applications (such asa business application, a system management application, and a databasemanagement application) are operated. When a data I/O request isgenerated by the operating system or an application, an I/O command(e.g., a data write request or a data read request) is issued(transmitted) to the storage apparatus 3. Upon receipt of the I/Ocommand, the storage apparatus 3 performs control corresponding to thereceived I/O command for a recording medium such as a hard disk deviceand transmits a data write completion notification, a data readcompletion notification, data read from the recording medium, etc., tothe server apparatus 2.

The information collection server 11, the performance management server12, and the management client 13 are coupled to the communicationnetwork 7 and may communicate with each other. The informationcollection server 11, the performance management server 12, and themanagement client 13 make up a performance management system 10 thatmanages the performance of the storage system 5.

The information collection server 11 and the performance managementserver 12 may communicate through the communication network 7 with theserver apparatuses 2, the storage apparatuses 3, and the switches 4. Theinformation collection server 11 and the performance management server12 may communicably coupled to the server apparatuses 2, the storageapparatuses 3, and the switches 4 through a communicating meansdifferent from the communication network 7 (e.g., another communicationnetwork provided for management).

The information collection server 11 collects information (hereinafter,configuration information) related to a configuration and information(hereinafter, performance information) related to a performance(operation status) for each of the server apparatuses 2, the storageapparatuses 3, and the switches 4 and provides the collectedconfiguration information or performance information to the performancemanagement server 12 as needed. A database management system (DBMS)managing the configuration information and the performance informationis operated in the information collection server 11.

The performance management server 12 monitors and controls the storagesystem 5 (the server apparatuses 2, the storage apparatuses 3, and theswitches 4) based on the configuration information and the performanceinformation provided from the information collection server 11. Adatabase management system (DBMS) managing the configuration informationand the performance information provided from the information collectionserver 11 is operated in the performance management server 12.

The management client 13 includes CUI (character user interface) (or CLI(command line interface)) or GUI (graphic user interface). Themanagement client 13 provides a user interface for monitoring andcontrolling the storage system 5 with the use of the informationcollection server 11 and the performance management server 12.

Although the performance management system 10 is made up of threeindependent pieces of hardware, i.e., the information collection server11, the performance management server 12, and the management client 13in FIG. 1A, the hardware configuration of the performance managementsystem 10 is not limited to this configuration. For example, two or moreof these pieces of hardware may be stored in a single housing to make upthe performance management system 10.

FIG. 1B depicts an example of a hardware configuration of a computer 100(information processing apparatus) capable to be used as the serverapparatus 2, the client 6, the information collection server 11, theperformance management server 12, and the management client 13. As shownin FIG. 1B, the computer 100 includes a CPU 101, a memory 102 (RAM(random access memory) or ROM (read only memory)), a storage device 103(e.g., hard disk and solid state drive (SSD)), an input device (such asa keyboard and a mouse) accepting operational input from users, adisplaying device 105 (such as a liquid crystal monitor and acathode-ray tube display), a communication interface (such as NIC(network interface card) and HBA (host bus adapter)) for communicatingwith other devices, and a timing device 107 made up with the use of RTC(real time clock) or a timer circuit to output timing information suchas the current date and time and elapsed time.

FIG. 1C depicts an example of hardware of the storage apparatus 3. Asshown in FIG. 1C, the storage apparatus 3 includes a disc controller 31,a cache memory 32, one or more processors 33, and a disc device 34. Theprocessor 33 communicates through the switch 4 with the server apparatus2. The disc controller 31 includes a CPU and a memory. The disccontroller 31 performs various processes for implementing the functionsof the storage apparatus 3. The disc device 34 includes one or more harddiscs 341 (physical discs) as a data recording medium. The cache memory32 stores, for example, data written into the disc device 34 or dataread from the disc device 34. One type of the storage apparatuses 3 withsuch a configuration is a disc array apparatus made up of a plurality ofhard disc devices controlled by RAID (redundant arrays of inexpensive(or independent) discs), for example.

FIG. 1D depicts an example of a hardware configuration of the switch 4.The switch 4 includes a CPU 41, a memory 42, and a communicationcontrolling device 43. The CPU 41 executes a program stored in thememory 42 to implement functions such as a management function forcorrelations between the communication ports 431 of the switch 4 andnetwork addresses, a filtering function, and a security function. Thememory 42 is RAM, ROM, or nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory), forexample. The memory 42 stores, for example, programs and firmware forimplementing the above functions, various tables for managingcorrelations between transmission sources and transmission destinationssuch as network addresses and port numbers, and setup informationrelated to the filtering function and the security function. Thecommunication controlling device 43 is, for example, a switch controllerand performs transfer control for input/output frames and packetsbetween communication ports 431 based on transmission source informationand transmission destination information of the frames and packetsinput/output to/from the communication ports 431.

<Description of Functions>

FIG. 2 depicts main functions and main data included in the informationcollection server 11 and the performance management server 12 as well aseach of the server apparatuses 2, the storage apparatuses 3, and theswitches 4 (hereinafter, collectively referred to as a management objectapparatus) having configurations and performances monitored andcontrolled by the information collection server 11 and the performancemanagement server 12.

As shown in FIG. 2, the management object apparatus (the serverapparatuses 2, the storage apparatuses 3, and the switches 4) furtherincludes a configuration information providing unit 201 and aperformance information providing unit 202 in addition to the functionsinherently included in each of the apparatuses. These functions areimplemented by executing the programs stored in the memory of themanagement object apparatus with the hardware included in the managementobject apparatus or the processor (CPU or MPU (micro processing unit))included in the management object apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 2, the information collection server 11 includes aconfiguration information collecting unit 203, a configurationinformation database 205, a configuration information transmitting unit207, a performance information collecting unit 204, a performanceinformation database 206, and a performance information transmittingunit 208. These functions are implemented by the hardware included inthe information collection server 11 or by executing the programs storedin the memory 102 of the information collection server 11 with the CPU101 of the information collection server 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, the performance management server 12 includes aconfiguration information acquiring unit 209, a performance informationacquiring unit 210, a configuration information database 211, aperformance information database 212, a monitoring object detecting unit213, a monitoring object resource database 214, a performanceinformation monitoring unit 215, a deletion period setting unit 216, aconfiguration information deleting unit 217, a policy setting unit 221,a preservation period setting unit 222, a display object setting unit241, a configuration information displaying unit 242, and a performanceinformation displaying unit 243. These functions are implemented by thehardware included in the performance management server 12 or byexecuting the programs stored in the memory 102 of the performancemanagement server 12 with the CPU 101 of the performance managementserver 12.

The configuration information providing unit 201 provides (transmits)the configuration information of the management object apparatus to theconfiguration information collecting unit 203 of the informationcollection server 11. The performance information providing unit 202provides (transmits) the performance information of the managementobject apparatus to the performance information collecting unit 204 ofthe information collection server 11.

The configuration information includes information indicative of arelation of resources (hardware resources or software resources) makingup the management object apparatus (hereinafter, resource configurationinformation) and information related to a path (hereinafter, I/O path)used for transmitting an I/O request from the server apparatus 2 to thestorage apparatus 3 and receiving the I/O request (hereinafter, I/O pathdefinition information). The configuration information database 211 ofthe performance management server 12 stores these resource configurationinformation and the I/O path definition information as the configurationinformation of the management object apparatus.

FIG. 3 depicts resources of the storage system 5. In FIG. 3, theresources include applications, file systems, and volumes (volumesprovided in the server apparatuses, which are storage areas differentfrom logical volumes of the storage apparatus 3 described later)operated in the server apparatus 2, the server ports 231, the switchports 431, the storage ports 331, the logical volumes (e.g., LDEV(logical device)) provided by the storage apparatus 3, and RAID groups(also referred to as array groups) providing the storage areas of thelogical volumes. Dotted lines in FIG. 3 indicate paths settable as I/Opaths.

If the resources are configured as shown in FIG. 3, the above resourceconfiguration information includes a correlation between the applicationand the file system, a correlation between the file system and thevolume, a correlation between the volume and the server port 231, acorrelation between the server port 231 and the switch port 431, acorrelation between the switch port 431 and the storage port 331, acorrelation between one switch port 431 and another switch port 431, acorrelation between the switch port 431 and the storage port 331, acorrelation between the storage port 331 and the logical volume, acorrelation between the logical volume and the RAID group, and the like.FIG. 4 depicts an example of resource configuration information(resource configuration information 400).

If the resources are configured as shown in FIG. 3, an I/O pathdescribed above is defined (set) by correlating e.g. the applicationoperated in the server apparatus 2, the server port 231, the switch port431, the storage port 331, and the logical volume.

FIG. 5 depicts an example of I/O path definition information. I/O pathdefinition information 500 shown in FIG. 5 defines correlations amongI/O path identifiers 511 identifying I/O paths, identifiers 512 of theapplications, identifiers 513 of the server ports 231, identifiers 514of the switch ports 431, identifiers 515 of the storage ports, andidentifiers 516 of the logical volumes. Note that FIG. 5 depicts anexample of the I/O path defining method and the I/O path defining methodis not limited to the one in FIG. 5. The I/O path may be defined ascorrelations among other resources.

As shown in FIG. 5, a record corresponding to each of the I/O paths inthe I/O path definition information 500 has items of start date and time521 for setting the date and time when the I/O path starts to be used(date and time when an I/O request becomes transmittable with the use ofthe I/O path), end date and time 522 for setting the date and time whenthe I/O path goes out of use (date and time when an I/O request becomesunable to be transmitted with the use of the I/O path), and deletiondate and time 523 for setting the date and time (timing) when definitioninformation (corresponding record) of the I/O path becomes deletablefrom the configuration information database 211.

The start date and time 521 are set as the date and time when the I/Opath starts to be used (date and time when the configuration informationacquiring unit 209 acquires the I/O path definition information 500 ofthe I/O path). The end date and time 522 are set as the date and timewhen the usage of the I/O path is terminated (date and time when theconfiguration information acquiring unit 209 detects that the I/O pathdefinition information 500 of the I/O path becomes invalid). The startdate and time 521 and the end date and time 522 may be configured to beset by the monitoring object detecting unit 213 described later. Thedeletion date and time 523 and a preservation reason 524 will bedescribed later.

The configuration information described above (the resourceconfiguration information 400 and the I/O path definition information500) is to be changed by an administrator (a user, an operator), etc.,of the management object apparatus as needed. The configurationinformation may be changed, for example, when the number of the serverapparatus 2, the switches 4, or the storage apparatuses 3 is increasedor decreased, when a change is made in the configuration of theapplications, the file systems, or the volumes of the server apparatuses2 or in the zoning setting of the switches 4, when a change is made inthe configuration of the RAID groups or the logical volumes of thestorage apparatus 3, and when a change is made in the configuration ofthe storage system 5 for improving a measure to failure or securityperformance.

The above-mentioned performance information is information related toperformance of individual resources. The performance informationindicates, for example, the number of I/O requests per unit time (IOPS(I/O per second)) processed by (or passing through each of) the filesystem, the volume, or the server port of the server apparatus 2, thenumber of I/O requests per unit time passing through the switch port ofthe switch 4, the number of I/O requests per unit time, and the numberof I/O requests per unit time processed by (or passing through each of)the storage port, the logical volume, or the RAID group of the storageapparatus 3. FIG. 6A depicts an example of the performance information600 related to the server apparatuses 2; FIG. 6B depicts an example ofthe performance information 600 related to the switches 4; and FIG. 6Cdepicts an example of the performance information 600 related to thestorage apparatus 3. In FIGS. 6A to 6C, the performances of theresources are indicated by metrics values based on the number of I/Orequests.

For example, SNMP (simple network management protocol) is used forcollecting the configuration information by the configurationinformation providing unit 201 and the configuration informationcollecting unit 203 as well as for collecting the performanceinformation by the performance information providing unit 202 and theperformance information collecting unit 204. In this case, for example,the configuration information collecting unit 203 and the performanceinformation collecting unit 204 function as SNMP managers, while theconfiguration information providing unit 201 and the performanceinformation providing unit 202 function as SNMP agents. Theconfiguration information or the performance information may becollected with the use of WMI (Microsoft® Windows® managementinstrumentation), WBEM (web-based enterprise management), SSH (secureshell), SMI-S (storage management initiative-specification), etc.

Upon receipt of the configuration information from the configurationinformation providing unit 201 of the management object apparatus, theconfiguration information collecting unit 203 of the informationcollection server 11 stores the configuration information into theconfiguration information database 205. Upon receipt of the performanceinformation from the performance information providing unit 202 of themanagement object apparatus, the performance information collecting unit204 of the information collection server 11 stores the performanceinformation into the performance information database 206.

The configuration information transmitting unit 207 of the informationcollection server 11 provides (transmits) the contents of theconfiguration information database 205 to the configuration informationacquiring unit 209 of the performance management server 12 as needed.The performance information transmitting unit 208 of the informationcollection server 11 provides (transmits) the contents of theperformance information database 206 to the performance informationacquiring unit 210 of the performance management server 12 as needed.

The configuration information acquiring unit 209 of the performancemanagement server 12 stores the configuration information received(acquired) from the configuration information transmitting unit 207 ofthe information collection server 11 into the configuration informationdatabase 211 of the performance management server 12. The performanceinformation acquiring unit 210 of the performance management server 12stores the performance information received (acquired) from theperformance information transmitting unit 208 of the informationcollection server 11 into the performance information database 212 ofthe performance management server 12.

As a result, the contents of the configuration information database 205of the information collection server 11 are synchronized with thecontents of the configuration information database 211 of theperformance management server 12. The contents of the performanceinformation database 206 of the information collection server 11 arealso synchronized with the contents of the performance informationdatabase 212 of the performance management server 12. The function ofthe information collection server 11 may be given to the performancemanagement server 12. In this case, the configuration informationdatabases 205 and 211 are integrated and the performance informationdatabases 206 and 212 are integrated.

Other main functions of the performance management server 12 shown inFIG. 2 will then be described.

The monitoring object detecting unit 213 of the performance managementserver 12 compares the configuration information acquired by theconfiguration information acquiring unit 209 from the informationcollection server 11 with the configuration information stored in theconfiguration information database 211 to judge whether a change is madein the configuration of the I/O path in the storage system 5 (whether achange is made in the set I/O path definition information 500). If achange is made in the I/O path definition information 500, themonitoring object detecting unit 213 stores information (hereinafter,resource identifiers) identifying some or all of the resources making upthe I/O path that becomes invalid (obsolete) due to the change(hereinafter, invalidated I/O path) into the monitoring object resourcedatabase 214 as resources to be monitored.

The monitoring object detecting unit 213 identifies another currentlyvalid I/O path stored in the configuration information database 211 andsharing the resource making up the past I/O path and stores the resourceidentifiers of some or all of the resources making up the currentlyvalid I/O path identified into the monitoring object resource database214 as monitoring object resource.

Description will specifically be made. FIG. 7 depicts an example when anI/O path is changed. FIG. 7 exemplarily depicts the case that a changeto an I/O path Y represented by a heavy solid line is made when an I/Opath X represented by a heavy dashed line has been set. As shown in FIG.7, an I/O path Z represented by a heavy solid line is also set valid inaddition to the I/O paths X and Y.

FIG. 8A depicts the I/O path definition information 500 before changingthe I/O path and FIG. 8B depicts the I/O path definition information 500after changing the I/O path. As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the I/O pathdefinition information 500 of the I/O path X is defined by correlatingan application C, a port C, ports H, I, J, and K, a port Q, and a RAIDgroup A. The I/O path definition information 500 of the I/O path Y isdefined by correlating the application C, the port C, the ports H, I, J,and K, a port R, and a RAID group B. The I/O path definition information500 of the I/O path Z is defined by correlating an application A, a portA, ports D, E, F, and G, a port P, and the RAID group A.

When detecting such a change in the I/O path, the monitoring objectdetecting unit 213 stores some or all of the resources making up the I/Opath X made invalid due to the change into the monitoring objectresource database 214 as resources to be monitored (hereinafter,monitoring object resources). That is, the monitoring object detectingunit 213 stores some or all of the resource identifiers of theapplication C, a file system C, a volume B, the port C, the ports H, I,J, and K, the port Q, a logical volume B, and the RAID group A into themonitoring object resource database 214 as the resources to bemonitored.

The monitoring object detecting unit 213 identifies another currentlyvalid I/O path stored in the configuration information database 211 andsharing the resource making up the I/O path X and stores the resourceidentifiers of some or all of the resources making up the currentlyvalid I/O path identified into the monitoring object resource database214 as. In FIG. 8B, since the I/O path X shares the resource “RAID groupA” with the I/O path Z, the monitoring object detecting unit 213 storessome or all of the resource identifiers of the application C, a filesystem A, a volume A, the port A, the ports D, E, F, and G, the port Q,and the logical volume A into the monitoring object resource database214 as the resources to be monitored. FIG. 9 depicts an example ofregistered contents of the monitoring object resource database 214.

The performance information monitoring unit 215 shown in FIG. 2 acquiresthe performance information of the resources identified by the resourceidentifiers stored in the monitoring object resource database 214 fromthe performance information database 212. The performance informationacquired by the performance information monitoring unit 215 is theperformance information of the monitoring object resources in a period(hereinafter, valid period) while the invalidated I/O path triggeringthe resources stored in the monitoring object resource database 214 toturn to the monitoring object resources had been present as a validpath. The performance information stored in the performance informationdatabase 212 of the performance management server 12 may be acquiredfrom the information collection server 11 when the performanceinformation monitoring unit 215 acquires the performance information, ormay be preliminarily be acquired and stored by the performanceinformation acquiring unit 210 from the performance informationtransmitting unit 208 of the information collection server 11 at atiming set in advance.

The performance information monitoring unit 215 judges whether theperformance information of the monitoring object resources stored in themonitoring object resource database 214 in the valid period matches apolicy set in advance by the policy setting unit 221 and inputs thejudgement result (“match” or “not match”) to the deletion period settingunit 216. The details of the policy will be described later.

A method may arbitrarily be set to judge whether the performanceinformation of the monitoring object resources in the valid periodmatches the policy. The type and number of policies may also arbitrarilybe set. For example, it may be judged that the information is matchedwhen at least one of the monitoring object resources stored in themonitoring object resource database 214 matches one policy or it may bejudged that the information is matched when two or more predeterminednumber of monitoring object resources match one policy. Alternatively,it may be judged that the information is matched when one (or more)piece of the performance information matches a plurality of types ofpolicies.

In this embodiment, for convenience of description, it is judged thatthe information is “matched” if at least one of the monitoring objectresources stored in the monitoring object resource database 214 matchesone policy and it is judged that the information is “not matched” if nomonitoring object resource matches a policy.

The deletion period setting unit 216 obtains the date and time(hereinafter, deletion date and time) of making the configurationinformation related to the invalidated I/O path (hereinafter,invalidated configuration information) deletable from the configurationinformation database 211 based on the judgement result input from theperformance information monitoring unit 215 and a preservation period223 input from the preservation period setting unit 222 and sets theobtained deletion date and time as the deletion date and time 523 of therecord of the invalidated I/O path in the I/O path definitioninformation 500. The deletion period setting unit 216 stores thecontents of the matched policy as the preservation reason 524 at thistiming. FIG. 10 depicts a state that the deletion time and data are setin the record of the I/O path definition information of the I/O path Xof the I/O path definition information 500 shown in FIG. 8B.

In this embodiment, the deletion period setting unit 216 subjects theinvalidated configuration information to the long-term preservation ifthe judgement result of the performance information monitoring unit 215is “matched” and subjects the invalidated configuration information tothe short-term preservation if the judgement result of the performanceinformation monitoring unit 215 is “not matched”. The method ofdetermining (setting) the preservation period is not limited to themethod described in this embodiment. For example, the preservationperiod may be varied depending on the number of resources matched to thepolicy or the type and number of policies matched to the resources.

The configuration information deleting unit 217 compares the currentdate and time with the deletion date and time set as the deletion dateand time 523 of the I/O path definition information 500 stored in theconfiguration information database 211 and deletes the invalidatedconfiguration information of the invalidated I/O path from theconfiguration information database 211 if the current date and timeexceed the deletion date and time. For example, when the I/O pathdefinition information 500 is as shown in FIG. 10, if the current dateand time is Jul. 2, 2009, the invalidated configuration information tobe deleted at this point is the record of the I/O path X.

Since the resource configuration information for each of the correlationbetween the switch port K and the storage port Q, the correlationbetween the storage port Q and the logical volume B, and the correlationbetween the logical volume B and the RAID group A are also theinvalidated configuration information as shown in FIG. 7, theconfiguration information deleting unit 217 deletes these pieces ofinformation from the configuration information database 211. Whendeleting the configuration information from the configurationinformation database 211, the performance information related to theresources included in the configuration information may be deleted fromthe performance information database 212.

As above, the performance management server 12 of this embodiment makesa judgment based on whether the performance of the monitoring objectresource matches the policy. Therefore, the configuration informationneeded to be preserved for a longer term is certainly preserved for anecessary period and the configuration information needed to bepreserved only for a shorter term is shortly deleted from theconfiguration information database 211. Therefore, a limited storagearea of the configuration information database 211 may effectively beutilized.

The policy setting unit 221 provides a user interface for setting theabove policy and inputs the set policy to the performance informationmonitoring unit 215. FIG. 11 depicts an example of a screen(hereinafter, a policy setting screen 1100) provided as the userinterface by the policy setting unit 221. As shown in FIG. 11, a usermay set one or more of the following policies on the policy settingscreen 1100:

(1) the invalidated configuration information is preserved if aperformance failure occurs in the monitoring object resources;

(2) the invalidated configuration information is preserved if apossibility of occurrence of a performance failure exists in themonitoring object resources; and

(3) the invalidated configuration information is preserved if theperformance of the monitoring object resources is stable.

The policy of (1) (first policy) represents a policy that theinvalidated configuration information is subjected to long-termpreservation if a performance failure occurs in at least one of themonitoring object resources stored in the monitoring object resourcedatabase 214.

If this policy is set, the performance information monitoring unit 215judges whether the monitoring object resource matches the policy in thefollowing manner, for example. As shown in FIG. 12A, the performanceinformation monitoring unit 215 judges that the policy is matched if themetrics value of the monitoring object resource exceeds a presetthreshold value in a predetermined period.

The predetermined period is, for example, from the date and time whenthe invalidated I/O path became valid (configuration change date andtime) to the date and time when the invalidated I/O path has becomeinvalidated (configuration change date and time). The monitoring objectresource is, for example, an application making up the invalidated I/Opath, and the metrics value is a metrics value based on a response time(turn-around time) of an I/O request issued from the application to thestorage apparatus 3. The threshold value may be set by a user on thepolicy setting screen 1100 (e.g., set in an input field denoted by areference numeral 1111 of FIG. 11).

As above, if the policy of (1) is set, the invalidated configurationinformation is subjected to long-term preservation when a performancefailure occurs in the monitoring object resources. Therefore, theeffective configuration information for analyzing a cause of aperformance failure may certainly be left in the configurationinformation database 211.

The policy of (2) (second policy) represents a policy that theinvalidated configuration information is subjected to long-termpreservation if a possibility of occurrence of a performance failureexists in at least one of the monitoring object resources stored in themonitoring object resource database 214.

If this policy is set, the performance information monitoring unit 215judges whether the monitoring object resource matches the policy in thefollowing manner, for example. As shown in FIG. 12B, the performanceinformation monitoring unit 215 judges that the policy is matched if themetrics value of the monitoring object resource in a predeterminedperiod exceeds the maximum value of the metrics recorded before thepredetermined period.

The predetermined period is, for example, from the date and time whenthe invalidated I/O path became valid (configuration change date andtime) to the date and time when the invalidated I/O path has becomeinvalidated (configuration change date and time). The monitoring objectresource is, for example, the storage port 331 making up the invalidatedI/O path, and the metrics value is a metrics value based on an I/Oprocessing amount (IOPS) of the storage port 331.

As above, if the policy of (2) is set, the invalidated configurationinformation is subjected to long-term preservation when a possibility ofoccurrence of a performance failure exists in the monitoring objectresources. Therefore, the effective configuration information foranalyzing a cause of a performance failure may certainly be left in theconfiguration information database 211.

The policy of (3) (third policy) represents a policy that theinvalidated configuration information is subjected to long-termpreservation if the performance of at least one of the monitoring objectresources stored in the monitoring object resource database 214 isstable.

If this policy is set, the performance information monitoring unit 215judges whether the monitoring object resource matches the policy in thefollowing manner, for example. As shown in FIG. 12C, the performanceinformation monitoring unit 215 judges that the policy is matched if aratio of a period having the metrics value of the monitoring objectresource exceeding a preset first threshold value to a wholepredetermined period exceeds a second threshold value.

The predetermined period is, for example, from the date and time whenthe invalidated I/O path became valid (configuration change date andtime) to the date and time when the invalidated I/O path has becomeinvalidated (configuration change date and time). The monitoring objectresource is, for example, the storage port 331 making up the invalidatedI/O path, and the metrics value is a metrics value based on an I/Oprocessing amount (IOPS) of the storage port 331. The first and secondthreshold values may be set by a user on the policy setting screen 1100(e.g., set in input fields denoted by reference numerals 1112 and 1113of FIG. 11).

As above, if the policy of (3) is set, the invalidated configurationinformation is subjected to long-term preservation when the performanceof the monitoring object resources is stable (when monitoring objectresources are effectively utilized). Therefore, the useful configurationinformation for effectively utilizing the resources may certainly beleft in the configuration information database 211.

The three policies described above are only examples and the aspects ofthe policy are not limited to those described above.

The preservation period setting unit 222 shown in FIG. 2 provides a userinterface for setting the preservation period 223 used when the deletionperiod setting unit 216 obtains the deletion date and time and inputsthe set preservation period 223 to the deletion period setting unit 216.The deletion period setting unit 216 defines the deletion date and timeas the date and time obtained by adding the preservation period 223 tothe date and time (hereinafter, end date and time) set as the end dateand time 522 of the I/O path definition information 500.

FIG. 13 depicts an example of a screen (hereinafter, preservation periodsetting screen 1300) provided by the preservation period setting unit222 to the management client 13 as the user interface. As shown in FIG.13, the preservation period setting screen 1300 is provided with adisplay field of a current capacity usage rate of the configurationinformation database 211 and preservation period setting fields (apreservation period setting field 1212 for the long-term preservationand a preservation period setting field 1213 for the short-termpreservation). The preservation period set in the setting field 1212 forthe long-term preservation is used for obtaining the deletion period tobe set for the invalidated configuration information judged as“matching” the policy by the performance information monitoring unit215. The preservation period set in the setting field 1213 for theshort-term preservation is used for obtaining the deletion period to beset for the invalidated configuration information judged as “notmatching” the policy by the performance information monitoring unit 215.

As above, a user may freely set the period for the long-termpreservation and the short-term preservation. Therefore, the managementserver 12 of this embodiment may manage the invalidated configurationinformation and the configuration information database 211 in accordancewith the user's needs.

The display object setting unit 241 provides a user interface forspecifying the configuration information or the performance informationto be displayed when a user refers to the configuration informationstored in the configuration information database 211 or the performanceinformation stored in the performance information database 212.

FIG. 14 depicts an example of a screen (hereinafter, display objectsetting screen 1400) provided to the management client 13 as the userinterface. As shown in FIG. 14, the display object setting screen 1400is provided with a field 1411 for specifying a display time interval ofthe performance information and a field 1412 for specifying theperformance information to be displayed by a period. The display objectsetting unit 241 acquires a search condition for the configurationinformation or the performance information to be displayed through thedisplay object setting screen 1400 from a user.

The configuration information displaying unit 242 shown in FIG. 2acquires from the configuration information database 211 theconfiguration information corresponding to the search condition acquiredby the display object setting unit 241 and provides a screen describingthe acquired configuration information to the management client 13. Onthe other hand, the performance information displaying unit 243 shown inFIG. 2 acquires from the performance information database 212 theconfiguration information corresponding to the search condition acquiredby the display object setting unit 241 and provides a screen describingthe acquired performance information to the management client 13.

FIG. 15A depicts an example of a screen (hereinafter, informationviewing screen 1500) describing the configuration information and theperformance information provided to the management client 13 by theconfiguration information displaying unit 242 and the performanceinformation displaying unit 243. As shown in FIG. 15A, the informationviewing screen 1500 is provided with a resource selecting field 1511, aresource tree display field 1512, an associated resource display field1513, a performance information display field 1514, and a date/timesetting field 1515. The resource selecting field 1511, the resource treedisplay field 1512, and the associated resource display field 1513display the configuration information. The performance informationdisplay field 1514 displays the performance information.

When an arbitrarily resource is selected in the resource selecting field1511, the configuration information corresponding to the selectedresource is displayed in the resource tree display field 1512. When adate/time tab displayed (tabbed) in the resource tree display field 1512is selected, the resource tree display field 1512 displays theconfiguration information at the time point corresponding to the dateand time displayed on the date/time tab. When an arbitrary resource isselected in the resource tree display field 1512, resources associatedto the selected resource are displayed in the associated resourcedisplay field 1513. By selecting a configuration tab displayed in theassociated resource display field 1513, the resources displayed in theassociated resource display field 1513 may be switched.

The performance information display field 1514 displays the performanceinformation in a period corresponding to the contents specified on thedisplay object setting screen 1400. The resource displayed on theperformance information display field 1514 is switched in conjunctionwith the resource selecting operation in the resource tree display field1512. When an arbitrary portion of the chart (graph) displayed in theperformance information display field 1514 is selected, theconfiguration information corresponding to the selected date and time isdisplayed in the resource tree display field 1512 and the associatedresource display field 1513. When date and time are set in the date/timesetting field 1515, the performance information in a periodcorresponding to the date and time is displayed in the performanceinformation display field 1514.

As above, according to the performance management server 12 of thisembodiment, a user can easily refer to the configuration information orthe performance information. A user can refer to the configurationinformation or the performance information from various viewpoints orperspectives.

FIG. 15B depicts another example of the information viewing screen 1500.The information viewing screen 1500 shown in FIG. 15B is not providedwith the associated resource display field 1513 in the informationviewing screen 1500 shown in FIG. 15A. The resource tree display field1512 is not provided with the date/time tab. The information viewingscreen 1500 may have a simple configuration like this.

FIG. 16A depicts another aspect of the display object setting screen1400 provided as a user interface to the management client 13 by thedisplay object setting unit 241. The display object setting unit 241accepts specification of a combination of identifiers of resources froma user through this screen (hereinafter, similar I/O path search screen1600) and uses the accepted combination as a search key to display alist of invalidated I/O paths stored in the configuration informationdatabase 211.

FIG. 16B depicts a screen (hereinafter, I/O path list screen 1650)displayed when a search start button 1612 is selected after a userspecifies a combination of identifiers of resources in specifying fields1611 of the similar I/O path search screen 1600 shown in FIG. 16A. Asshown in FIG. 16B, the I/O path list screen 1650 displays start date andtime 1652 (contents of the start date and time 521 of the I/O pathdefinition information 500), end date and time 1653 (contents of the enddate and time 522 of the I/O path definition information 500), and apreservation reason 1654 (contents of the preservation reason 524 of theI/O path definition information 500) for each of invalidated I/O pathidentifiers 1651.

When one of the records displayed on the I/O path list screen 1650 isselected, a screen as shown in FIG. 15A or FIG. 15B is displayed withthe display of contents corresponding to the invalidated I/O path of theselected record.

As above, according to the performance management server 12 of thisembodiment, a user may easily refer to the configuration information orthe performance information related to the I/O paths related (similar)to specified identifiers by specifying the identifiers of resources.

<Description of Processes>

The principal processes executed in the performance management server 12will then be described. A letter “S” added to the beginning of referencenumerals stands for a step.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory flowchart of a process (hereinafter, amonitoring object detecting process S1700) executed by the monitoringobject detecting unit 213. The monitoring object detecting process S1700will hereinafter be described with reference to FIG. 17.

The monitoring object detecting unit 213 first deletes (initializes)information stored in the monitoring object resource database 214(S1711) and starts monitoring whether the configuration informationacquiring unit 209 receives the configuration information (S1712).

If the configuration information acquiring unit 209 receives theconfiguration information (S1712: YES), the monitoring object detectingunit 213 judges whether the I/O path is changed (S1713). If the I/O pathis changed, a reference is made to the I/O path definition informationof the invalidated I/O path stored in the configuration informationdatabase 211 to store (register) resources making up the invalidated I/Opath as the monitoring object resources into the monitoring objectresource database 214 (S1714).

Next, the configuration information acquiring unit 209 refers to the I/Opath definition information stored in the configuration informationdatabase 211 to search for an I/O path sharing a resource with theinvalidated I/O path (S1715). If an I/O path sharing a resource exists(S1715: YES), the resources of the I/O path are stored (registered) asthe monitoring object resources into the monitoring object resourcedatabase 214 (S1716). The monitoring object detecting process S1700 isbasically executed as above.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory flowchart of a process (hereinafter, adeletion period setting process S1800) executed by the deletion periodsetting unit 216. The deletion period setting process S1800 willhereinafter be described with reference to FIG. 18.

The performance information monitoring unit 215 first acquires theperformance information of the monitoring object resources stored in themonitoring object resource database 214 (S1811).

The performance information monitoring unit 215 then judges whether theacquired performance information of the monitoring object resourcesmatches the above policy (S1812). The performance information monitoringunit 215 judges that the preservation period is set longer (S1813) ifthe performance information matches the policy (S1812: YES) and that thepreservation period is set shorter (S1814) if not matching (S1812: NO)and notifies the deletion period setting unit 216 of the result.

The deletion period setting unit 216 obtains the deletion date and timebased on the notification from the performance information monitoringunit 215 and the preservation period 223 input from the preservationperiod setting unit 222 and sets the obtained deletion date and time asthe deletion date and time 523 of the invalidated configurationinformation in the configuration information database 211, and sets thecontents of the matched policy as the preservation reason 524 (S1815).The deletion period setting process S1800 is basically executed asabove.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory flowchart of a process (hereinafter, aconfiguration information deleting process S1900) executed by theconfiguration information deleting unit 217. The configurationinformation deleting process S1900 will hereinafter be described withreference to FIG. 19. Note that the configuration information deletingprocess S1900 is activated at a preset timing such as at predeterminedtime intervals.

The configuration information deleting unit 217 first acquires thecurrent date and time (S1911). The configuration information deletingunit 217 then accesses the configuration information database 211 tojudge whether the configuration information passing over the deletiondate and time exists (S1912). If the information exists (S1912: YES),the configuration information deleting unit 217 deletes theconfiguration information passing over the deletion date and time fromthe configuration information database 211 (S1913). The configurationinformation deleting process S1900 is basically executed as above.

The above description of the embodiments is for the purpose offacilitating the understanding of the present invention and is notintended to limit the present invention. The present invention may bealtered or modified without departing from the spirit thereof and, ofcourse, the present invention encompasses equivalents thereof.

1. An information processing apparatus for managing configurationinformation indicative of a configuration of resources making up astorage system with which I/O paths are set in a storage device, theinformation processing apparatus comprising: a monitoring objectdetecting unit that, upon detecting a change in settings of the I/Opaths, extracts resources making up an invalidated I/O path that isinvalidated by the change in the settings of the I/O paths as monitoringobject resources; a performance information acquiring unit that acquiresperformance information indicative of performances of the monitoringobject resources from the storage system; a performance informationmonitoring unit that performs a judgment of whether the performanceinformation of the monitoring object resources acquired by theperformance information acquiring unit matches a preset policy; and adeletion period setting unit that determines a timing to makeconfiguration information related to the invalidated I/O path deletablefrom the storage device based on a result of the judgment of whether theperformance information of the monitoring object resources matches thepreset policy, and manages the determined timing in a manner correlatedwith the configuration information, wherein the preset policy is apolicy representative of whether a performance failure is occurring inthe monitoring object resource, a judgment of whether the preset policyis met is made by judging whether or not a metrics value of themonitoring object resource exceeds a preset threshold value in apredetermined period.
 2. The information processing apparatus of claim1, wherein the predetermined period is a duration from the date and timewhen the invalidated I/O path became valid to the date and time when thevalidated I/O path has become invalidated.
 3. The information processingapparatus of claim 1, wherein the monitoring object resource is anapplication making up the invalidated I/O path, and the metrics value isa response time of an I/O request issued from the application to thestorage device.
 4. A managing method of configuration informationexecuted by an information processing apparatus, the configurationinformation being indicative of a configuration of resources making up astorage system with which I/O paths are set, the method comprising: upondetecting a change in settings of the I/O paths, extracting theresources making up an invalidated I/O path that is invalidated by thechange in the setting of the I/O paths as monitoring object resources;acquiring performance information indicative of performances of themonitoring object resources from the storage system; performing ajudgment of whether the performance information of the monitoring objectresources acquired by the performance information acquiring unit matchesa preset policy; and determining a timing to make configurationinformation related to the invalidated I/O path deletable from thestorage device based on a result of the judgment of whether theperformance information of the monitoring object resources matches thepreset policy, and managing the determined timing in a manner correlatedwith the configuration information, wherein the preset policy is apolicy representative of whether a performance failure is occurring inthe monitoring object resource, a judgment of whether the preset policyis met is made by judging whether or not a metrics value of themonitoring object resource exceeds a preset threshold value in apredetermined period.
 5. The managing method of configurationinformation of claim 4, wherein the predetermined period is a durationfrom the date and time when the invalidated I/O path became valid to thedate and time when the validated I/O path has become invalidated.
 6. Themanaging method of configuration information of claim 4, wherein themonitoring object resource is an application making up the invalidatedI/O path, and the metrics value is a response time of an I/O requestissued from the application to the storage device.
 7. An informationprocessing apparatus for managing configuration information indicativeof a configuration of resources making up a storage system with whichI/O paths are set in a storage device, the information processingapparatus comprising: a monitoring object detecting unit that, upondetecting a change in settings of the I/O paths, extracts resourcesmaking up an invalidated I/O path that is invalidated by the change inthe settings of the I/O paths as monitoring object resources; aperformance information acquiring unit that acquires performanceinformation indicative of performances of the monitoring objectresources from the storage system; a performance information monitoringunit that performs a judgment of whether the performance information ofthe monitoring object resources acquired by the performance informationacquiring unit matches a preset policy; and a deletion period settingunit that determines a timing to make configuration information relatedto the invalidated I/O path deletable from the storage device based on aresult of the judgment of whether the performance information of themonitoring object resources matches the preset policy, and manages thedetermined timing in a manner correlated with the configurationinformation, wherein the preset policy is a second policy representativeof whether a possibility of occurrence of a performance failure existsin the monitoring object resource, a judgment of whether the presetpolicy is met is made by judging whether or not the metrics value of themonitoring object resource in a predetermined period exceeds the maximumvalue of the metrics recorded before the predetermined period.
 8. Theinformation processing apparatus of claim 7, wherein, the predeterminedperiod is a duration from the time when the invalidated I/O path isvalidated to the time when the validated I/O path is invalidated.
 9. Amanaging method of configuration information executed by an informationprocessing apparatus, the configuration information being indicative ofa configuration of resources making up a storage system with which I/Opaths are set, the method comprising: upon detecting a change insettings of the I/O paths, extracting the resources making up aninvalidated I/O path that is invalidated by the change in the setting ofthe I/O paths as monitoring object resources; acquiring performanceinformation indicative of performances of the monitoring objectresources from the storage system; performing a judgment of whether theperformance information of the monitoring object resources acquired bythe performance information acquiring unit matches a preset policy; anddetermining a timing to make configuration information related to theinvalidated I/O path deletable from the storage device based on a resultof the judgment of whether the performance information of the monitoringobject resources matches the preset policy, and managing the determinedtiming in a manner correlated with the configuration information,wherein the preset policy is a policy representative of whether aperformance failure is occurring in the monitoring object resource, ajudgment of whether the preset policy is met is made by judging whetheror not a metrics value of the monitoring object resource exceeds apreset threshold value in a predetermined period, the predeterminedperiod is a duration from the date and time when the invalidated I/Opath became valid by a configuration change to the date and time whenthe validated I/O path has become invalidated by a further configurationchange, the monitoring object resource is an application constitutingthe invalidated I/O path, the metrics value is a response time for anI/O request issued to the storage device from the application, whereinthe preset policy is a second policy representative of whether apossibility of occurrence of a performance failure exists in themonitoring object resource, a judgment of whether the preset policy ismet is made by judging whether or not the metrics value of themonitoring object resource in a predetermined period exceeds the maximumvalue of the metrics recorded before the predetermined period.
 10. Theinformation processing apparatus of claim 9, wherein, the maximummetrics value being recorded before the predetermined period, and thepredetermined period is a duration from the date and time when theinvalidated I/O path is validated to the date and time when thevalidated I/O path is invalidated.
 11. An information processingapparatus for managing configuration information indicative of aconfiguration of resources making up a storage system with which I/Opaths are set in a storage device, the information processing apparatuscomprising: a monitoring object detecting unit that, upon detecting achange in settings of the I/O paths, extracts resources making up aninvalidated I/O path that is invalidated by the change in the settingsof the I/O paths as monitoring object resources; a performanceinformation acquiring unit that acquires performance informationindicative of performances of the monitoring object resources from thestorage system; a performance information monitoring unit that performsa judgment of whether the performance information of the monitoringobject resources acquired by the performance information acquiring unitmatches a preset policy; and a deletion period setting unit thatdetermines a timing to make configuration information related to theinvalidated I/O path deletable from the storage device based on a resultof the judgment of whether the performance information of the monitoringobject resources matches the preset policy, and manages the determinedtiming in a manner correlated with the configuration information,wherein the preset policy is a third policy representative of whetherthe performance of the monitoring object resources are stable, ajudgment of whether the preset policy is met is made by judging whetheror not a ratio of a period having the metrics value of the monitoringobject resource exceeding a preset first threshold value to a wholepredetermined period exceeds a second threshold value.
 12. Theinformation processing apparatus of claim 11, wherein and thepredetermined period is a duration from the date and time when theinvalidated I/O path became valid to the date and time when thevalidated I/O path has become invalidated.
 13. A managing method ofconfiguration information executed by an information processingapparatus, the configuration information being indicative of aconfiguration of resources making up a storage system with which I/Opaths are set, the method comprising: upon detecting a change insettings of the I/O paths, extracting the resources making up aninvalidated I/O path that is invalidated by the change in the setting ofthe I/O paths as monitoring object resources; acquiring performanceinformation indicative of performances of the monitoring objectresources from the storage system; performing a judgment of whether theperformance information of the monitoring object resources acquired bythe performance information acquiring unit matches a preset policy; anddetermining a timing to make configuration information related to theinvalidated I/O path deletable from the storage device based on a resultof the judgment of whether the performance information of the monitoringobject resources matches the preset policy, and managing the determinedtiming in a manner correlated with the configuration information,wherein the preset policy is a third policy representative of whetherthe performance of the monitoring object resources are stable, ajudgment of whether the preset policy is met is made by judging whetheror not a ratio of a period having the metrics value of the monitoringobject resource exceeding a preset first threshold value to a wholepredetermined period exceeds a second threshold value.
 14. The managingmethod of configuration information of claim 13, wherein thepredetermined period is a duration from the date and time when theinvalidated I/O path became valid to the date and time when thevalidated I/O path has become invalidated.